


The Beast of Greenpath

by KC_R



Series: The Beast!Hornet AU [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Beast!Hornet AU, Gen, Ghost curses, Hornet is scary, Not very good with action scenes? Hope I did good, Yes this is inspired by Little Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KC_R/pseuds/KC_R
Summary: The Ghost of Hallownest enters Greenpath for the first time. Something large is looming in this cave system, and it does not want them here.
Relationships: Hornet & The Knight (Hollow Knight)
Series: The Beast!Hornet AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201559
Comments: 10
Kudos: 11





	The Beast of Greenpath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Murderbirb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murderbirb/gifts).



> Me and Birb were discussing Hornet's anatomy and the way she grew, and while Birb came up with the idea of "What if Hornet and the Pure Vessel switched height?", I came up with the idea of "What if Hornet became a humongous Beast?". Thus, this series of fics was born! Enjoy :)

The Ghost of Hallownest, with their brand new spell, approached the entrance to the “Pilgrim’s Path” as the sign announced. A large beast blocked their way, the same one from the Ancestral Mound, and after a short battle, they managed to dispatch it with their new spell. The area beyond was quite beautiful, filled with grass and acid and such. It was truly nice, serene. They slowly jumped from platform to platform, making sure not to make the mistake of falling into the acid again. This place was decorated with poles and fences, filled with small, moss-covered bugs, some of which emerged from the ground, while others were covered in infection and let out noxious clouds of gas. They ran at a group of small, bird-like bugs, scaring them off. They liked this place already.

They miscalculated a jump, missing a higher-up platform and falling down a high height. They were used to these kinds of falls, they should be at least, but it knocked the wind out of them, and their leg made a funny sound upon landing. The funny sound was quickly overshadowed by the immense pain flowing through them. They sheathed silently and pulled themselves up to a higher ledge to assess the injuries. It didn’t look good, to say the least. They would need to take it slow until they reached the next bench. Slowly, the small vessel began to limp through the lush overgrowth. 

In this next room, they found beautiful waterfalls and, at the very peak of the room, a bench. A shame, though, that they lacked the strength to climb, instead opting to use the remainder of their soul to heal the wound on their leg. It would be fine, they hadn’t seen any tough enemies yet. The next room had twisting vines, and a large gap. They knew they couldn’t cross this gap, they weren’t that stupid!

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, snapping them out of their thoughts. The first thought that came to their mind told them to run. They tried to, but only ended up twisting their leg further. They opted to drag themselves into a small, nearby grotto, covering themselves in moss and leaves. They witnessed a hand bigger than them slammed down in front of them. They held back a peep, moving a hand over their mouth as this beast unlike any other they had ever seen entered the room. It had six long arms that were thin yet muscular, as well as a pair of strong hind legs. As it lowered its head, they got a good look at its face. Its head was a mask, like their own, but with two horns creating a U shape. Several cracks ran down the beast’s mask, likely due to them slamming into things. Its mandibles unfurled, giving them a show of its mouth, which could no doubt shred them. Its body was wrapped in a cloak, one that seemed to be many discarded cloaks sewn together, layered in places, its length making it seem more like the curtains of a cathedral’s windows, tied in several places by lengths of rope. Several skins and shells littered the cloak, one of which they recognized as the beast from the beast that blocked the entrance to the Greenpath

The Beast lowered itself further down, a hand landing mere paces away from them. They held their breath, shaking in fear, fear that this thing would see them and devour them as it no doubt had thousands of other bugs. They watched as it lowered itself down, down, down, leaving them alone in their small hole in the wall. Once the shaking had subsided, they crawled out. They hoped they would never see that Beast again.

\----

They peered down at their map and then back up at the surrounding area. This seemed like the correct path through Greenpath. They were very thankful that Cornifer hadn’t met his fate at the hands of that giant beast, and they did their best to warm the mosquito about it, but he paid little mind to their warnings. They rubbed their leg, feeling the pleasant sensation of it being in one piece. A few hours in a hidden alcoves bench fixed them right up!

They had even met a hunter, one who had thankfully given them some cryptic information on the Beast of Greenpath. Apparently, she, as the Beast called it, was older than most of the bugs still in Hallownest. She was likely older than the Hunter themself! She was a deadly hunter, but they had respect for those who didn’t desecrate Hallownest. Ghost thought of all of the signposts and totems and… well, everything that they had broken during their travels. 

Whatever was wandering, maybe even guarding Greenpath, whatever it was and whatever it was doing, it apparently had no qualms with Quirrel, or Cornifer, or, as they would soon find out, a very very annoying bug.

For a moment, as they ascended from one room into another, they almost thought they were back in the Forgotten Crossroads. Several tiktiks and venglies were littered across this area, and distantly they heard the grunts of pain from another bug. They almost leaped into action, but their action became caught in their throat as they ran through the room. The Beast was already here, and one of its hands was wrapped around a large Vengly. The creature in the Beast’s hand struggled and squirmed, but a quick squeeze ended its screeches once and for all.

They crouched down behind a ledge and watched it as it pulled a smaller bug from the Vengfly’s mandibles and dropped them on the ground. “You mongrel! Do you dare lay hands on the Mighty Zote!” The bug yelled. The Beast growled at them before dragging their kill away, crawling down the thin passageway into the next room. Well fuck, they had to go that way.

Silently, they emerged from their hiding spot, and quickly made their way over to the self-proclaimed “Zote the Might”. Surely a knight with such a title would know anything about these lands, right?

Right?

Wrong. Zote the Might looked much like them, but with mismatched horns and an old look to them. They rubbed their back as if in pain, likely due to being thrown across the room like a ragdoll. “Gah! What do you think you’re doing here? These are my grounds!” The bug said, pointing their wooden nail at them. “No need to scurry about! You saw it right, I, Zote the Mighty, just scared off that Great Beast! Even if it took my prey, the taste of victory will keep me full for months to come!” Zote the Mighty explained. Ghost immediately knew they didn’t like him, and decided to leave him there.

“Where do you think you’re going! Get back here!” Zote ordered as they approached the way the Beast had gone. “If you have any brain to you, you’d come back and listen to my heroic deeds!” He said. Ghost ignored him and dropped down the path. And now Zote was alone, shaking in his cloak, dealing with the image of that giant Beast crushing a Vengfly King with one hand. That… thing… would take care of the Beast, surely. They had already done enough work for today. They shook with fear, and took a seat on the cold stone, where they would reside for the rest of the day.

\----

Unfortunately for Ghost, the peace of the next room was short-lived. They dropped down from the room and landed directly on the large mask of the Beast, who was snacking on the giant Vengfly. Ghost panicked, digging their grubby fingers into the grooves of the cracks of her mask. Meanwhile, both of her eyes settled on them, at first curiosity, and then amusement, and then rage. 

It was time for Ghost to let go, they decided. And just in time too, as one of the Beast’s hands moved quickly to try and grab them before they fell. Thankfully, they slipped right past, hitting against a platform, before landing on a thankfully soft bed of moss. They practically leaped to their feet as the Beast followed suit, a large claw crashing to the ground right where they had been but seconds before. They ran forward dodging a swipe as the Beast crawled after them, its mask scraping against the ceiling. She suddenly pushed with her feet, slamming into Ghost with her forehead and sending them flying a few feet. Another claw slammed into the wooden wall that they had just crashed into, and a moment later the Beast’s face was practically up against theirs.

Using the rest of the soul they had left, they cast a spell as the Beast’s face, causing it to recoil. They used this time to escape into the wooden wall, quickly running down the small, narrow hallway. This would be awful if they were cornered. Unfortunately for them, not even a second later, the Beast slammed her head against the wooden wall, splintering it into hundreds of pieces. Ghost ran the rest of the way they could, ending up in a pit with the corpse of another vessel, and unluckily for them, the gate was closed. 

This wasn’t the way they wanted to go, but they had no other choice. Thankfully, the Beast could not fully fit through the small tunnels. Unfortunately, at least three of her hands could.

“Little Ghost.” She growled, her voice bouncing off the walls of the cavern. “I have seen you many a time out of the corner of my eyes, creeping through this sacred kingdom, destroying what little it has left. I know what you aim to do, and I cannot allow it.” Well, if that wasn’t a declaration of battle they didn’t know what was. 

They jumped over a hand as it slammed into the opposite wall, managing to slash at the boney fingers while she scratched blindly in hopes of hitting them. They could hear frustrated growls and cries from down the tunnel, cries of pain sounding so… normal… that they almost stopped fighting for a moment. This distraction allowed for the Beast to backhand them, sending a shockwave of pain throughout their shell and momentarily crippling them. They wouldn’t be able to win this fight, their enemy was simply too strong. The corpse of the other vessel was in reach, and its cloak beckoned them forward. As silently and quickly as possible, they crawled forward until the cloak was in reach. Just as they reached it, though, the Beast slammed her fist against the opposite wall of the room. The entire tunnel shook like it was about to cave in, and she quickly withdrew her arms, leaving Ghost to be crushed to death.

Pulling the cloak off of the deceased Vessel, Ghost hurried over to the opposite wall and pried the bent and destroyed gate open enough for them to slip through. Still battered and broken, they wrapped themself in the cloak, to at least put another layer between the falling rocks and their soft shell. A burst of energy shot through them, and with a quick kick, they dashed across the room. This discovery would have been exciting, were they not on the brink of being crushed by a cave-in. They used their new dash to quickly navigate the remainder of the room, barely getting out of the tunnels before the entire center of the room collapsed in on itself, leaving only them and the rubble. They had lived another day, another day to die at the hands of the Beast of Hallownest

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, Hornet is larger than the Hunter. This is due to her inheriting more Wyrm genes, causing her to molt rapidly, while also greatly growing in size with every molt. Thankfully, the stasis that Hallownest has been put under has stopped her growth for now. She may seem absolutely terrifying, but she is very scared, mostly of herself and the cramped tunnels she calls home.


End file.
